Coaching for Professionals | Encoraco

Boost Your Self-Esteem in Retirement By Changing Roles

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 21:08:20 GMT

Whether we realize it or not, the roles we play in life often shape critical aspects of our identities and therefore have a significant effect on our “self-regard” – meaning our overall sense of self-worth and self-esteem, which can run along a continuum of positive to negative. With a high level of positive self-regard, we feel good about our abilities, outcomes and contributions leading to an affirming and confident mindset about ourselves. This then translates into an attitude of confidence and optimism when embracing new challenges and opportunities.

Adjusting to Retirement: Embracing New Mindsets

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:07:00 GMT

Many of the mindsets that serve us during an intense career can become impediments as we embark on a new chapter, even one where we intend to be engaged and involved.

To start with, anyone with a demanding career has become habituated to reacting to the needs of others swiftly and automatically, which keeps the days filled with more than enough content. Similarly, we become acclimated to our status as an expert across most (if not all) areas of life—which explains the professional success. And speaking of success, most have probably taken the measure of their efforts according to how “successful” they are in the eyes of others, as evidenced by things like income, accolades, awards, and recognition.

I propose three mindset “shifts” that will make a dramatic difference to your ability to build an engaged and satisfying life after an intense career.

How to Stay Motivated in Retirement | 3 Areas To Focus On

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 21:07:00 GMT

For some, retirement offers an escape hatch from an unhappy slog. But many prove Freud right in his view of work as a motivating impulse in life, right up there with love. The father of psychoanalysis framed it one way. We frame it another. In coaching high achievers on the brink of retirement, we focus on three basic motivational properties of the “self”. It’s this triad that we humans organize ourselves to protect, whether consciously or unconsciously. They are community, agency, and coherence. And every one of them takes a major hit when we retire.

Should You Be Thinking About Retirement?

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 20:07:00 GMT

There’s a question we often get from mid-career professionals when we present to their firms. “When should I start thinking about retirement?” they ask. Our answer is boringly consistent. “It doesn’t matter how old you are,” we tell them. “It’s always relevant.” Even if you are still ten years away, we point out that this inflection point is already looming on the horizon, and that now’s the time to become conscious about a future path. Build now and the transition becomes a seamless experience instead of a shock.

Anxiety About Retirement? 5 Ideas to Help Shift Your Mindset

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 21:17:00 GMT

Welcome back to my two-part post about overcoming anxiety about retirement. If you missed Part One of this series, be sure to go back and read it to learn more about what retirement anxiety is. In this discussion, I will share some of our most powerful ideas about overcoming retirement anxiety. While most of us have been told to simply plan for our financial wellbeing in retirement, money alone does not make for a satisfying life experience, nor does it fully neutralize anxiety about retirement. Following are five key ideas (none of which are about money) to overcome retirement anxiety.

Understanding and Overcoming Retirement Anxiety

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 20:17:00 GMT

Welcome to my two-part post about overcoming retirement anxiety. After working for nearly two decades to help lawyers and other professionals retire from intense careers, I am keenly aware of how many people quietly suffer with anxiety at the thought of an impending retirement. But we have a proven approach to overcoming retirement anxiety and can help you make the most out of the next chapter of your life or help a friend or loved one to do the same. In this first part, we will help you understand what retirement anxiety is, how it can manifest, and what some of the risks and misconceptions are that stem from it.

Reframing Retirement: Navigating the Gift Economy

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 19:16:00 GMT

For many, retirement implies the freedom to spend all that money you spent years saving. But the expenditure I’m referring to is not financial. Rather, the open-ended outlay of time tends to pose a bigger conceptual challenge for many. One of the themes we see with our financially secure clients is that their prosperity poses a bit of a conundrum. On the one hand, it ought to leave them feeling liberated. No longer do they have to trade their time for money. However, trading their time for money has been the overarching purpose governing how they choose to invest their time. It is, at least in part, a transactional choice to do this in exchange for that. Not that there’s anything wrong with a swap, but it’s a different beast altogether from the prerogatives that apply to retirement.

The Secret to Successful Retirement: It's More Than Money

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 14:00:00 GMT

Perhaps you’re among the millions of retirees who imagined, helped along by decades of marketing messages, that your well-funded 401k was all you needed to glide into the sunset of retirement happy and fulfilled. If you are like most, you might be realizing that somehow you have under-thought the consequences of this enormous life change and how it might register on your emotional Richter scale.

Psychosocial Development in Late Adulthood | The Next Stage

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 14:50:39 GMT

We are all aware that between age 60 and 65, most professionals are considering retiring from their careers, either because they are facing a mandatory retirement age or because other factors in their lives are shifting. But did you know that, at the very same age, we are also experiencing an internal psychological shift – from middle adulthood into late adulthood?

Considering Retirement? Learn to Connect With the Future Self

Elizabeth Zelinka Parsons — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 14:00:00 GMT

Human beings have a fascinating relationship with the future. We often try to imagine what our future selves will look like, what we will be doing, and how we will feel. However, research shows that our ability to accurately predict our future is somewhat limited, as we tend to underestimate how much we will change in the years to come.

This is known as the "end of history" illusion, a concept that social psychologist Dan Gilbert explores in his well-known TED talk.